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Tricia Jaussaud
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I wanted a beach wedding but we couldn’t get the whole family to the beach so we brought the beach to our back yard. We put painter cloths on the lawn then covered them with sand. We brought in tables and chairs and strung tiny white lights across the yard to shine like stars.
We convinced a friend, who was ordained for the occasion, to officiate. He didn’t tell us he liked to drink. A lot.
It seemed everyone liked to drink and they were all getting into the spirit of things before the wedding started.
I wore a vibrant blue, short dress, strapless and snug fitting. Mike wore linen pants and blue Hawaiian shirt. We both wore flip flops suitable for the beach. All we needed as ocean spray and a few gulls flying over head.
The “preacher” called us all to order and we loosely assembled in front of him as the as the guests, glowing from the adult drinks attempted to find their seats.
After the noise settled down and my sister helped her husband up from the sand where he had fallen, we started the ceremony.
Our “preacher” cleared his throat dramatically and began to read the opening to the ceremony. He stopped, cleared his throat and started again. He stopped, swayed and fell face first into the sand.
Our friend rolled onto his back and continued the ceremony from the sand.
We spoke to loving vows to each other that sounded like they were written by Dr. Seuss.
I held Mike’s hands in mine, I looked into his eyes and said, “I will love you in the tree, I will love you in the sea.”
Mike answered me saying, “I will love you more than pie, I will love till I die.”
Mike’s mother read the Owl and the Pussy Cat, it was very touching and warm.
We exchanged rings and our “preacher” prepared to pronounce us married. Just then almost on cue our neighborhood ice cream truck rolled passed by our house playing a rousing rendition of Jack and Jill. We waited until the truck passed by before resuming the wedding.
During the ceremony we had noticed thunder clouds gathering in the west and moving fast towards us. Thunder rumbled as the “preacher “ pulled himself up from the sand and pronounced us married.
Mike and I moved towards each other and leaned in to kiss, our lips met, thunder sounded, lightening flared across the black sky and rain pounded on our heads.
I will always remember that day vividly. Not just for the drunken guests or the sand covered “preacher” or even for the sweet words spoken in love accompanied by the strains of Jack and Jill. I will remember it also for the fire storm that sprung from the freak June thunderstorm that poured on our wedding and started California burning. The storm started hundreds of fires across the state, some burned for weeks causing billions of dollars in damages.
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